Photo courtesy of the CDC
Results of a meta-analysis support the idea that statins can reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Researchers analyzed data from 36 studies involving more than 3.2 million people and found an “extensive body of evidence on the clinical benefit of statin[s] in the occurrence of VTE.”
The team believes these findings could potentially lead to new guidelines and an expansion of the use of statins.
“These findings underscore a potential beneficial role of statin therapy on VTE in addition to its established role in cardiovascular disease prevention,” said Kamlesh Khunti, MD, PhD, of the University of Leicester in the UK.
Dr Khunti and his colleagues reported these findings in The Lancet Haematology.
The researchers analyzed data from 36 studies. This included 13 cohort studies with a total of 3,148,259 subjects and 23 randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) of 118,464 subjects in which statins were compared to placebo or no treatment.
In the observational studies, statin use was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of VTE, when compared to no statin use. The pooled relative risk (RR) was 0.75 (P<0.0001).
Statin use was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), with an RR of 0.77 (P<0.0001). (There were only 2 observational studies looking specifically at DVT outcomes.)
However, there was no significant reduction in the risk of pulmonary embolism (PE) with statin use. The RR was 1.02 (P=0.90). (There was only 1 observational study reporting specifically on PE outcomes.)
In the RCTs, statin use was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of VTE, with an RR of 0.85 (P=0.038).
Statin use was also associated with a significant reduction in DVT risk, with an RR of 0.45, but not PE risk, with an RR of 0.77 (no P values available). (There was only 1 RCT that reported specifically on DVT and PE outcomes.)
The RCTs also showed significant differences in VTE risk according to type of statin used. Patients receiving rosuvastatin had the lowest risk of VTE when compared to those receiving other statins, with an RR of 0.57 (P=0.015).
“Currently, statins are only approved for lipid lowering in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease,” said study author Setor Kunutsor, MBChB, PhD, of the University of Bristol in the UK.
“But they have shown great promise beyond their established lipid-lowering effects, and these include potential beneficial impact on multiple disease conditions. These results provide an extensive body of evidence on the clinical benefit of statin[s] in the occurrence of VTE and may support a true protective effect.”
